Pillage and Plunder
by Jase Andrews
Summary: When pirates attack the small city of Tortuga, will two brave citizens be able to fight them off? Based on the ride, not the movie.
1. Prologue

_Ye come seekin' adventure and salty old pirates, eh? Sure, you've come to the proper place. But keep a weather eye open mates. There be squalls ahead; and Davey Jones waiting for them what don't be careful…_

_Pillaging, plundering, and all of that may seem like a glamorous life to you landlubbers not involved, but be warned – a life like that can consume a man, turning good folk into demons of greed and evil. But I don't want to scare ye away, of course…if there's good and bad in the world, someone's gotta be the good, and someone's gotta be the bad._

_What? No fear have ye of pirates says you? Ahh…properly warned ye be, says I. Who knows when those greedy men will strike, causing devastation where 'ere they roam …and remember this, readers… _

_Dead men tell no tales…_

_

* * *

_A/N: This tale is based off of Walt Disney's Pirates of theCaribbean - BEFORE the refurbishments. It's a short story I submitted to a Pirates of the Caribbean fansite for a contest, and I thought a few of you would like to read it as well. Have at it, then. 


	2. Welcome to Tortuga

The sun slowly rose over the small city of Tortuga, a British-controlled port, and its citizens began to rise as well. Many of the bars were still open of course – catering as outlets for those still drinking, or as bedrooms for those who'd passed out during the wild night.

One of these early risers was named Joshua Greene – a young man in his twenties, with sandy blond hair and a matching goatee. The son of a local merchant, Joshua was now following in his father's footsteps – he was one of the fisherman in town, rising with the sun and heading out to the docks.

Many women in the town admired Joshua for his looks; many of the local hookers had even tried to pay HIM to sleep with them. But the young lad only had his heart set on one girl.

Amelia was her name, and there was nothing more or less special about her than him. She lived near the docks, sewing and making clothing every single day, along with her sisters and mother. The girl had beautiful curly brunette hair, brilliant hazel eyes, and a slim figure and face. But the best part about her was her smile. Joshua often saw her through the second story window, and always tried to catch her eye as he passed. Even though he was confident in many areas, he was just too shy to ask this beautiful woman to spend an evening on the beach with him.

_These are, however, just petty details, for those of you missing a few sails from yer mast. This tale really begins one foggy morning on the quiet streets of Tortuga._

Joshua quietly walked towards the numerous docks, carrying with him a simple lunch for the day – the rest of his equipment was already with the boat.

He rounded a corner, and automatically looked upwards – there was Amelia's house, as usual, and hopefully the girl herself would make an appearance. Joshua was so distracted by the sight that he instinctively jumped back when his path was blocked.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone stepped in front of his path, startling him.

"Oh! Chastity," he said, regaining his composure, "Fancy seeing you out this morning."

Chastity was the preacher's daughter, but you couldn't tell. With her fiery red hair and a pink dress to match, this girl was about as far from God as possible.

"Well, how do you do, Joshua?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyebrows and smiling. On top of her head was a giant red hat, which Joshua thought looked ridiculous.

"I'm fine, Chastity," Joshua replied, knowing the girl's true motives. Chastity had hoped for a while now that Joshua would court her, but he had always resisted the 'temptation.' And besides…she was an incredible gossip.

"Going out to fish?" Chastity asked, Joshua knowing that she already knew the answer to that question.

"As always," Joshua replied with a weak smile. Quickly side-stepping the girl, he continued on his way, ignoring her frowns and pouting.

* * *

Joshua continued on his way to the docks when another unexpected surprise occurred – this one, however, was pleasant. 

Amelia was outside on the front steps, hanging some laundry. Joshua's first instinct was to hide or go another way, but he fought the butterflies in his stomach and nervously approached the girl.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?" he said, his British accent wavering slightly.

"Oh! Yes, quite!" Amelia said, looking up from the clothing she was washing, "You're…Joshua, right?"

"Yes," he stammered, smiling nervously.

"I've seen you about," Amelia said, a twinkle in her eye, "Such a committed man at this age…I don't believe I've seen any other fishermen as young as you are."

"I do take pride in my work, Miss Amelia," Joshua replied. Amelia laughed, making Joshua immediately feel embarrassed.

But the girl simply said "Call me Amy. I never did like my full name."

"Will do…Amy," Joshua said with a grin. They said goodbye, and Joshua continued on his way, full of glee.

* * *

When Joshua got to the docks, he began to follow through with his daily routine of preparing his ship. 

"Oy, foul weather, huh?" a fellow fisherman asked him, who was also heading out to the ocean.

"Quite," Joshua agreed, looking out to the sea. What had started as a morning fog had now developed into a full blown cloud over the port and sea, which would make the morning's fishing even more difficult. And worse, the wind was picking up.

"Not good signs, lad," the fisherman said to Joshua, "There's trouble brewing…and I don't like the looks of things."

"I'm sure it's just a touch of bad weather…it should clear up by this afternoon," Joshua said, and with that, took his boat and headed to the deeper waters.

The town's fort was solidly constructed – made of a strong brick and stone, and one of the tallest on the seas. Cannons were placed facing outward everywhere, protecting the port from whatever enemies that came for them. The mayor, a Spaniard by the name of Carlos Valles, wanted the utmost protection for the citizens of the town.

But stones and bricks can only stand so much.


	3. Trouble Brewin'

Joshua was fairly far out, and having fairly bad luck. None of the fish seemed to be biting today!

Slumping down in his boat, he left the line out and turned towards the ocean. All he could see was fog, fog, and more fog.

But suddenly, he could see something else.

A small shadowy speck appeared very far in the distance. Frowning, Joshua stared at it for a second.

"What's a ship doing way out there in this weather?" he muttered to himself. Minutes later, he realized that the speck was getting bigger – at a very fast speed.

And bigger. And bigger.

Sitting up in his boat, he squinted into the distance. It wasn't just a fishing boat…it was a ship.

A big one.

It came closer, and closer, and Joshua realized that it was heading right towards the town. And when it was clear enough, Joshua could see the giant flag it was waving proudly at the top of its tallest mast. And it wasn't a British flag. This one was jet black, with a picture of a skull and two crossing swords below it. This ship belonged to…

"Pirates!" Joshua gasped. His eyes grew wide with fear – he'd heard all of the tales about pirates on the seas, and how they didn't care who and how they killed people. But they didn't head for the ports. Instead, their ship started to turn and faced the giant barracks that was built along the shore. He could see the words _THE_ _WICKED WENCH_ emblazoned on the boat in gold lettering.

Joshua was fairly far away from the ship, but he could hear yelling and chanting coming from its deck. And he heard a fairly loud yell of "STRIKE YOUR COLORS YOU BLOOMIN' COCKROACHES! FIRE AT WILL!"

They suddenly fired on the fort. Cannonballs flew from the ship and hit the fort hard, causing bricks to instantly crumble and fall into the sea. He could hear screams from the fort as soldiers manning it were hit and killed.

Suddenly, he heard a noise like a high pitched whistle. Looking back towards the pirate ship, he realized that one of the cannonballs was flying toward him.

_At_ him.

Joshua's eyes grew wide and he dove into the water seconds before the cannonball shot through his boat, causing wood to fly everywhere and the remainder of the boat to begin to sink. Gasping in the cold water, he grasped wildly for a large piece of wood that had broken off of his boat.

Swimming towards it, the cannonballs aimed towards the rest of the port in his direction narrowly missed him, causing huge splashes and bright glows in the water as they hit. Joshua lunged for the driftwood, and managed to grab it as a cannonball exploded behind him. Water flew everywhere – salt water landed in his eyes and mouth, and he yelled in pain. Swimming blindly, he tried to get back to the port, his eyes burning and only barely able to see out of them.

Somehow, miraculously, Joshua made it to dry land. His blond hair was a muddy brown now that it was wet, his clothes and entire body were soaked, and he felt that all of the energy was drained out of him. And the freezing cold water only made it worse.

The last thought before he passed out on the sandy beach was one about warning Amy…

* * *

Amy heard the cannon fire from her bedroom, and when she looked out the window towards the fort she couldn't believe her eyes.

Pirates.

_Pirates! _

Horror stories had been told to her as a young girl, about how they would come take a town's supplies or treasures, and how they would mistreat the women and kill the men. She started downstairs, and ran out to the street to warn others.

But when she turned to look once more at the pirate ship, her eyes widened and jaw dropped.

They were coming ashore.

Many boats were coming from the main ship, towards shore. Each of them chock full of pirates.

Whirling around, Amy rushed towards town to warn the others, occasionally tripping.

"Bloody dresses," she muttered with frustration as she ran to find anyone to help.


	4. Yo Ho, Yo Ho

Joshua's eyes fluttered open.

And pain immediately shot to his head.

Immediately shutting his eyes tightly again, Joshua fought against the pain and tried to sit up. Looking out towards the sea, he gasped.

It was night. He'd been out for a long time.

Feeling his head he felt a large bump on the back. He had just fallen into the sand…how did he get such a big injury?

Joshua then noticed the boats.

Maybe eight of them total, they had been carelessly left on the shore, as if someone had gotten out as soon as they hit land and left without a second thought.

"The pirates," Joshua realized with horror. They had attacked the town.

Turning around slowly, Joshua looked at Tortuga. With a gasp, he looked at what now remained of his town.

Huge fires were billowing in practically every building. Some had been destroyed completely. Flames were everywhere, except for the pirates had burned away all of the houses by the dock.

Getting up, Joshua walked as fast as he could to the rest of the town – his legs hurt too, and he suspected the pirates had beat and kicked him for fun when they had come ashore.

* * *

The rest of the town wasn't faring so well either.

Joshua passed the well, and saw that the mayor had been taken hostage. He was wearing his pajamas, and tied to the well's rope instead of a bucket. Continuously dunking him, the pirates laughed and cheered.

"Speak up ya bilge rat! Where be the treasure?" one pirate demanded.

"Do not tell him Carlos! No no no no!" the mayor's wife cried from above in a thick Spanish accent. Joshua looked to see that she was watching all of this from a second story window, still wearing her bedclothes. Groaning, one of the pirates shot at the woman, and she quickly closed the shutters to deflect the shot.

"No! No! _Por favor_!" Carlos pleaded vainly, gurgling the last words as he was plunged into the well once again.

"Be brave Carlos! Don't listen to him!" his wife cried, opening the window shutters carefully.

"By gum, he'll talk, or else! Ya hear?" the pirate demanded.

This made Joshua pause. Treasure? There was a treasure hidden here in town? But his thoughts were distracted by a high pitched scream coming from a few blocks away. Rushing towards the sound, he found that something even worse was going on.

"That's right, take a wench for a bride!" a pirate with a long black beard yelled. He was wearing a large black hat with a skull and crossbones on it; it was the captain.

"What be I offered for this winsome wench?" the captain asked. The 'wench' in question was a plump woman with brown hair with a look of fear in her eyes.

"We wants the redhead!" the other pirates cried, with some annoyance. Joshua saw that there were other women lined up…Chastity included.

But Chastity, unlike the other frightened women, was showing off, waving at pirates and jutting her hips out.

"We wants the redhead! We wants the redhead!" the pirates chanted again. Joshua rolled his eyes.

"Figures," he muttered as he began to sneak around the 'auction.' But he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Get your hands off me!" a woman cried as she was brought up to be shown to the other pirates.

Joshua spun around. It was Amy!

Struggling against the captain's firm grip, she looked at him and the pirates with disgust.

"This wench is a fine one! Oh, let's say, start at five?"

"I'll pay five!" one pirate yelled out from the crowd.

"Do I hear six? Who'll make it six?"

"Six it be!…Six bottles 'o rum!" another pirate cried out, who was obviously drunk. Amy gasped and glared at the pirate.

"I'm not spongin' for rum! It be **gold** I'm after!" the Captain shot back angrily. Turning to Amy, he smiled slyly. "Now, where be that fascinatin' little old treasure, eh?" Joshua couldn't hear any more of this.

"Let her go!" he yelled from the back. All of the pirates turned to look at him.

"I mean…uh…" he said, looking at all of their disgruntled faces, "Unhand her, you bilge rats! Off with ye, avast!" Joshua said, trailing off at the end. He had wanted to sound menacing, but now looked just the opposite. The pirates burst out laughing.

"You think ye can stop all of us, landlubber? Ye be but one man, and have nary a weapon to fight with!" the captain yelled.

"Oh, he's not alone," Amy muttered. Suddenly breaking free of the captain's grasp while he was distracted, she jumped away from him and punched him in the face.

He grabbed his nose as she jumped down from the platform to join Joshua.

"Are you alright?" Joshua asked worriedly.

"I'm quite alright now," Amy said with a wink.

The pirates were surprisingly easy to take out, perhaps since most of them had consumed dangerous amounts of alcohol. A simple punch in the face from Joshua or kick in the groin from Amy seemed to do them in. Soon, all of the pirates were down except for the captain himself.

"Now now, can't we just settle this like civilized gentlemen?" he asked Joshua with a smile. Amy, however, went up and slapped the captain in the face.

"Oooo," he said, winking at Amy and touching his cheek.

"I," Amy fumed, "am not a gentleman." She glared at him for a second, and walked back to Joshua.

"Now now, we didn't WANT to destroy your beautiful little town," the captain said, "But that mayor of yours just wouldn't tell us where your loot is kept."

"So that meant destroying our town and killing innocent people?" Joshua asked angrily. The captain merely smiled, and spoke in a slight rhythm:

_"__We kindle and char and enflame and ignite,  
Drink up, me 'arties, yo ho!  
We burn up the city, we're really a fright,  
Drink up, me 'arties, yo ho! _

_Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me!"_

"That one's a classic," he said with a grin, "Ever heard it?"

"Leave our town. Now," Joshua said. He quickly reached down and grabbed a gun from the nearest unconscious pirate. Joshua aimed it at the captain, his hand shaking slightly.

"Oh, is that the game we're going to play?" the captain drawled. And with astounding speed, he pulled out his _own_ gun, cocked it, and aimed it at Amy.

"I'm sure my reflexes are just as fast as that there bullet," the captain taunted. Joshua lowered the gun in frustration, and the captain withdrew his.

"There we go. Now, where be this treasure of yers?"

"We don't know of any treasure," Joshua said. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something: Amy was slowly lowering herself to the ground. Joshua tried not to look at her; he knew she had a plan.

"Sure ye do – all towns have treasure of sorts!" the captain bellowed angrily. Amy slowly stood back up and saw that she was holding something tightly in her hand – one of the pirates' rum bottles.

Suddenly, the captain drew his gun again.

"Now tell me where the treasure is, or I'll-"

_**CRASH.** _

The captain stared at Joshua with a confused look on his face. Then he fell to the ground.

Amy stood behind him, holding a now broken glass bottle in the air.

The two locked eyes, and a split second later, rushed into each other's arms.

"Nice," Joshua said, hugging Amy tightly.

"Thanks for that," Amy said, referring to her rescue, and laid her head on Joshua's shoulders.

"Oh, sure, SHE gets the man," whined a voice from behind them. They both turned to see Chastity sitting on the platform, complaining loudly.

"I was going to be next, you fools! Now I'll never get to 'sail the seas' with a pirate!"

Joshua and Amy stared at her for a minute, laughed, and walked away together. Joshua began to quietly sing.

_"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me…"_


	5. Closing

"Here! Give us the keys, you little beast!"

"I say, grab his ears!"

"Walk him over to the noose. Hold it-…higher, I say, higher!"

"Mangy mutt! Hit him with a soup bone."

"Here doggy…nice doggy…"

"Belay that talk, we want the keys, not the mutt!"

"Can't ya reach any farther, ya bilge rat?"

The prison guard's dog held the keys in his mouth tauntingly. The pirates in the cell were trying to get them away, desperately, pathetically.

"Whatever you do, that dog is not going to move…" the guard said with a chuckle as he passed the pirates.

Frowning, one of them muttered bitterly _"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me__…" _


End file.
